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An alleged stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was eliminated after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He said: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell saw Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the family were left frightened and upset by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.